Shea Weber ready for emotional return to Nashville
Shea Weber won’t have to share the spotlight in his first game against the Nashville Predators Tuesday night.
Because of an upper-body injury, P.K. Subban won’t be on ice when the two teams face one another for the first time since last summer’s mega trade that saw both players swapped for each other. In some regards it’s fitting for Weber that this night will be about celebrating him and his accomplishments.
Weber has never sought extra attention – no matter how much he deserved the praise for his on-ice play or under-the-radar charity work away from the rink. But like it or not all of the eyeballs at Bridgestone Arena are going to be on him.
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“I’m not going to lie — there’s probably going to be a lot of emotion,” the 31-year-old Weber told The Tennessean in a recent story. “I’m human. I spent a lot of time there. I put a lot of hard work and effort into everything I did there. Obviously built a lot of friendships and relationships even outside of the game with people there.”
Despite the positive public sentiments around both the player and the team heading into the game, Weber’s history in Nashville was much more complicated than the usual superstar relationship with his original organization.
When the Predators picked him 49th overall in the 2003 NHL Draft, the team saw him the eventual right-side complement to first-round pick Ryan Suter. But after their draft years, Weber took off and quickly looked like a future superstar and the first elite player selected and developed by the franchise. In his first full season in Nashville, Weber combined brute strength with uncommon mobility for a defenseman his size to blast 17 goals in 79 games in 2006-07. He then launched himself towards hockey’s elite with 23 goals in 81 games in 2008-09.
In the summer of 2010 Weber was named captain and under his leadership the team made the second-round of the playoffs for the first time in franchise history in 2011. That season, Weber was ending a three-year $13.5 million contract and a big extension as a restricted free agent seemed likely. But that offseason Weber experienced the unpleasantness of the business side of hockey for the first time when he and the Preds couldn’t come to a new long-term deal.
Nashville filed for arbitration to guard against an offer sheet on Weber and they ended up going through the entire process. He was awarded a one-year, $7.5 million contract, which seemed to dampen the positive vibes between the player and the franchise.
“It was obviously a new experience,” Weber said when he returned to Nashville for training camp. “Not a lot of guys get to experience the whole arbitration thing, but it’s part of the business and I guess now I can say that’s another thing I can check off in the list of things I’ve done.”
The Predators roared into the playoffs as Western Conference a favorite in 2012, beat the Detroit Red Wings in five games, but then lost the next round in five games to the underdog Phoenix Coyotes.
That summer saw off-ice tumult hit Weber again. Suter, his longtime defense partner, left for the Minnesota Wild as an unrestricted free agent and then Weber, a restricted free agent, mulled his options. His representatives and the Predators couldn’t figure out a path to a long-term contract and Weber started to shop around. He visited the Philadelphia Flyers, Red Wings, New York Rangers and San Jose Sharks.
Weber eventually signed a 14-year, $110 million front-loaded offer sheet with the Flyers, which the Predators matched several days later. Weber later said that he knew he would end up in either Philadelphia or Nashville so the offer sheet wasn’t a big deal.
“I love the city of Nashville. I love the fans. I love my teammates,” Weber said after Nashville matched. “It’s a very positive thing that ownership (in Nashville) has stepped up and shown they are going to be a team that will spend to the cap and bring guys in and be a successful team.”
Externally it seemed hard to believe that Weber’s camp truly felt this way. The Flyers’ offer sheet was set up in a manner that attempted to make it impossible for the small-market Predators to swallow. This included signing bonuses of $13 million for each of the first four years of the deal.
Weber’s agents also said the Predators looked like they were rebuilding and intimated they preferred Philadelphia to Nashville.
The following season, Weber and the Predators struggled. The team finished with the fourth-worst record in the NHL and Weber uncharacteristically called out at some of his younger teammates after a loss, saying he didn’t want to “babysit” them.
But he came in the following year with a fresher mindset and rediscovered his groove with a career-high 56 points to go along with 23 goals. The Predators didn’t make the playoffs, but Weber seemed at ease with his status in Nashville – that he was the face of the franchise and would likely spend the rest of his NHL career in the Music City.
Before the following year, Weber and goaltender Pekka Rinne put their names and support to a charity to help fund pediatric cancer research at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt. This was called the 365 Pediatric Cancer Fund.
“Pekka and I have been talking about this for awhile, and knowing that we are going to be in Nashville for a long time, we wanted to give back to the community on a bigger level,” Weber said in a release about the fund. “We are in a unique situation where we can help, and are thankful to brighten up the lives of kids going through some of their toughest days. It really puts things in perspective for us.”
While off the ice, Weber seemed to grasp a greater level of comfort in Nashville, on the ice it appeared his game fell off to a slight degree. Defense partner Roman Josi quickly grew comfortable in Peter Laviolette’s up-tempo system and became Nashville’s main scoring option on the back-end with 55 points.
Weber still was his typically solid self, scoring 15 goals and 45 points that season while averaging 26:22 of ice-time. But as the NHL’s advanced stats community started to gain more of a voice in how opinions are formulated of players, some cracks in Weber’s game started to get noticed. That season Weber, who throughout his career has drawn the opponent’s top lines, had a minus-5.82 adjusted 5-on-5 CF% Rel, which showed the team possessed the puck less when he was on the ice than when he wasn’t.
In 2015-16, even though he hit the 20-goal mark for the third time in his career, a total of 14 of them were tallied on the power play and his 5-on-5 possession numbers continued to stay on the lower side with a minus-3.67 adjusted CF% Rel.
Weber’s final appearance as a Predator was arguably his worst. He was a minus-3 in a Game 7 second-round loss to San Jose and was on ice for all goals his opposition scored.
“It was tough. It was a tough night,” Weber said. “We’re expected to log some minutes and play some good hockey and I don’t think we were at our best. It’s tough, it feels like we have let each other down. I know that I could have been better and it’s hard.”
Said Sharks center Joe Thornton, “Shea’s unbelievable. He’s probably the hardest defenseman to play against in the league. He’s so big and so strong. He’ll get his cracks, that’s a good team over there we just beat.”
Weber never got another shot with Nashville. Last June he was on his boat enjoying the sights and sounds of his summer home area in Kelowna, British Columbia, when he got dealt from the Predators to Montreal. He didn’t expect it – likely thinking that the Preds had committed so much in him both monetarily and emotionally that a deal was almost improbable. But his contract also didn’t have no-trade protection – a request by his agents that was denied after the Predators matched the offer sheet – which meant if a deal presented itself, Nashville never had to ask for Weber’s seal of approval.
“There’s so much racing through your head. How am I going to sell my house? How am I going to find a new house? How am I going to get all of this done? I’ve got so much to think about. There’s just like a million things going through your mind,” Weber told The Tennessean about his mindset after the trade.
Even though Weber held some lofty career accomplishments with Nashville as a three-time Norris Trophy finalist and was a two-time Olympic gold medalist with Team Canada, the trade was initially seen seen as disastrous by Habs fans.
Subban was four years younger, a more fluid skater and known as a better puck possession player. He was also one of the most flamboyant personalities in the NHL – which was in direct contrast to Weber’s more old school style. Subban’s charitable endeavors within the city of Montreal were legendary, especially after he promised $10 million to Montreal Children’s Hospital.
Then the season started and Weber quickly won fans over with 18 points in the first two months. His stoic, even-keeled style also appeared calming for a Canadiens dressing room that lost its way last season after goaltender Carey Price went down in November. This season the Habs are in first-place in the Atlantic and have overcome injuries to Alex Galchenyuk and David Desharnais. Weber has 21 points in 37 games while averaging a team-high 26:02 of ice-time.
“They have electric players and what they needed was a leader and Shea goes in there and Shea is … with all due respect to (captain Max) Pacioretty I think Shea goes in there and leads that team,” former Canadiens and Predators defenseman Hal Gill said last October. “He’s not the captain but I think everyone in that locker room knows who’s boss and I think he’s the guy who runs that team, which is exactly what that team needed.”
After the hot start slowed and Weber went pointless in 10 December games, there weren’t any calls ripping the hulking defenseman from reporters in the Montreal fishbowl and if there were, he probably wouldn’t have cared.
“I just do my thing,” Weber said to the National Post. “I just try and play hockey, that’s what I’m here for. Try and help this team win and don’t pay attention to stuff outside of hockey. Obviously, it’s pretty neat, pretty special to go out here, though, and people recognize you everywhere you go. It’s a very passionate spot. But outside of what we do in here and what we’re trying to accomplish, I don’t try and pay attention to stuff outside of that.”
Though Weber is far away from Nashville, he still checks in on the 365 Fund and continued his relationship with the Best Buddies program, a charity that aids people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Weber has also gone headfirst into local charitable endeavors in Montreal, such as a recent hospital visit by the team.
Weber’s desire to not be the center of attention was on display the morning before his game at the Predators. When asked about what it’s going to be like playing in Nashville as a member of the Canadiens, Weber was brief in his answer.
“I’m happy where I am. I’ve spent a lot of time here. It was my home for a while but now I have a new home moving forward,” he said.
When a reporter asked him how he spent his Monday night in the Music City, Weber quipped, “What, do you want to know exactly what I did?”
Eventually he relented and said, “I went for dinner with some guys that play for Nashville, yup.”
Early in Weber’s time with the Predators, this type of mindset made it seem like he preferred the smaller market lifestyle in Nashville rather than a big market hockey city. He appeared unwilling to deal with mass media hordes and often gave short answers, even though one-on-one he often came across as insightful, caring and charitable.
But really that wasn’t the case at all. The Habs have been almost the perfect fit for Weber at least early on since the trade. His unflappable attitude is the right type of persona for that hockey mad market. And though there is greater attention from him away from the rink he’s still the same dad, husband and dog lover that he was once before. Even though Nashville was where he grew up as an NHL player, the Canadiens could be where he really thrives.
“It’s definitely been good so far,” Weber said. “We’re happy where we’re living and happy with the way everything is going so far.”
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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper
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